Ash Reshteh (آش رشته)

Ingredients

• 150 g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight, drained
• 150 g dried kidney beans, soaked overnight, drained
• 100 g green or brown lentils, rinsed
• 200 g reshteh noodles, or a flat wheat noodle of similar thickness
• 200 g fresh spinach, roughly chopped
• 50 g flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• 30 g fresh fenugreek leaves, roughly chopped
• 30 g fresh coriander, roughly chopped
• 2 large onions, one finely sliced for caramelising, one finely chopped for the soup base
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 60 ml neutral oil, divided: for the soup base and the fried-mint topping
• 2 tbsp dried mint
• 200 g kashk, at room temperature; see note on substitution
• 1 tsp salt, plus more to taste

Method

1. 1
   Partially cook the soaked chickpeas and kidney beans: place them in a large saucepan, cover generously with cold water, and simmer for 45–60 minutes until tender but not collapsing, so they hold their shape through the long simmer ahead without turning to mush. Cook the lentils separately in simmering water for 20–25 minutes until just yielding, keeping them apart so their shorter cooking time does not leave the beans underdone. Drain all legumes and reserve; the beans should yield to pressure between two fingers but hold their shape.
2. 2
   In a large, heavy pot, warm 30 ml of the oil over medium heat, add the chopped onion, and cook, stirring, until soft and golden, so the sweetness that will underpin the whole soup has time to develop fully. Add the turmeric and stir for one minute until the oil runs deep yellow and the spice blooms in the fat — the smell shifts from raw to toasty, which tells you the turmeric is working rather than sitting raw in the liquid.
3. 3
   Add the drained chickpeas, kidney beans, and lentils to the pot, then pour in enough water to cover by 5–6 cm (approximately 1.5 litres) and bring to a gentle boil before reducing to a steady simmer. Remove roughly 20% of the cooked beans with a slotted spoon, purée them to a smooth paste, and stir them back into the pot so they thicken the broth from within, giving it body without flour or starch. The soup base should appear visibly thickened and opaque — not brothy.
4. 4
   Add the spinach, parsley, fenugreek, and coriander all at once — the quantity should seem excessive and will crowd the pot, but stir to submerge so the herbs wilt evenly rather than steaming dry at the surface. Simmer uncovered for 20–30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the herbs have fully collapsed into the soup and the liquid has turned a deep, saturated green throughout. A timid herb quantity at this stage cannot be recovered — this is where the dish lives or dies.
5. 5
   In a separate pan, cook the sliced onion in the remaining 30 ml of oil over medium-low heat, stirring regularly, for 25–35 minutes until deeply caramelised and mahogany in colour, so the topping brings a concentrated, jammy sweetness that contrasts the sour kashk at the bowl. In the same pan, add a little additional oil if needed, reduce the heat to low, and fry the dried mint with a pinch of turmeric for 30–45 seconds, stirring constantly until intensely fragrant but not scorched — even a few seconds past fragrant will make it bitter. Both toppings are held separately until service.
6. 6
   Ten to fifteen minutes before serving, add the reshteh noodles to the simmering soup and stir well to prevent clumping, since noodles that stick together will not cook evenly and will seize into a single mass. Cook until the noodles are tender but still carry a little resistance when bitten through, because they will continue to soften in the residual heat of the pot.
7. 7
   Remove the pot from the heat and stir the kashk through the soup in the final two minutes, or entirely off the heat, so the gentle temperature keeps it smooth and glossy rather than grainy or split. The soup should turn pale and creamy where the kashk is folded in. Do not return to a high boil after this point; the kashk must remain smooth and uncurdled.
8. 8
   Ladle the soup into deep bowls, spoon kashk over the surface, add caramelised onion, then drizzle the fried-mint oil — the mint oil should sizzle audibly on contact with the hot soup surface, which tells you the bowl is hot enough to carry the dish through the meal. Each topping is applied separately; the diner integrates them at the bowl.